The present disclosure generally relates to electronic networks, and more particularly, to discovery of the network topology, operation and management of networks.
An electronic network includes different electronic devices connected to communicate with one another through communication links such as electrical cables, optic fibers, wireless links, or a combination of these. Linked electronic devices, e.g., computers, their peripherals, and other information processing devices, can exchange data and share various hardware and software resources over the network. Certain linked electronic devices may be configured and designated to forward data and perform network management. Network servers, routers, switches, and bridges are examples of such devices. Two or more networks may be connected to one another to form a greater network.
The topology of a network, i.e., physical layout of the interconnections among linked electronic devices, is an important aspect of the network because it affects the communication within the network. Designated network devices such as switches and routers determine paths for forwarding data packets over the network according to the topological configuration. A given network topological configuration may change over time. Keeping track of such changes is often referred to as xe2x80x9ctopology discovery.xe2x80x9d Routers often use one or more routing protocols to exchange routing information with one another. Each router can maintain its own updated routing table or topological map of the entire network topology.
For example, the Open Shortest Path First (xe2x80x9cOSPFxe2x80x9d) protocol has been used in networks based on Internet Protocol (xe2x80x9cIPxe2x80x9d) to determine the best routing path within an autonomous system where routing among linked devices is controlled under one routing protocol. Each router running OFPF maintains its own updated topological map of the entire network which is referred to as a link state database. The OSPF protocol may use one of link state parameters indicating the attributes of different paths between two devices in the network to determine the best path. Examples of link state parameters include latency, throughput, hop count, path cost, path reliability, and others. The choice of the best path may change with link parameters selected between two devices.
The present disclosure provides methods for operating a network by using two different databases. A first database has information about topology of devices connected in the network. The second database has information about at least topology, software and hardware configurations of selected devices that have predetermined device attributes. The information in the first and second databases is combined to choose a suitable selected device to perform a function when the function is installed, or to install the function in the suitable selected device when the function is not installed in the network.
The selected devices may be active devices which are programmable to install and perform a new function while being connected to the communication links in the network. The network may also have passive devices which are devices whose functions cannot be modified while connecting to the network. At least one active topology server is connected to communicate with both the passive and active devices.
The active topology server can be configured to maintain a first database on topology of all of the passive and active devices and a second database on topology, software and hardware configurations of only the active devices. The first and second databases are combined to select a desired active device based on its network location, software, and hardware to perform or install a function.
These and other aspects of the present disclosure will become more apparent in light of the following detailed description, the accompanying drawings, and the appended claims.